Cora was swearing off men for the foreseeable future.

After last night, she felt numb inside. That could be a side-effect from crying the better part of the night away. Her body ached with her sorrow, as if it had sustained a physical blow. And perhaps, in a way, she had. It wasn’t every day that you were betrayed by people you trusted.

Her phone rang and she stared at the screen. Spencer. She hit decline call. He was one of the last people she wanted to talk to. She didn’t want protestations of innocence. Garrett’s betrayal hurt so badly she wondered if she’d ever be able to breathe again without her heart aching. But it was the added bonus of Spencer’s duplicity that had shattered her last night.

Cora didn’t know if it was a blow she would ever fully recover from. She’d barely slept and was now making Milo some pancakes. Her little man loved pancakes. Cora ignored her phone as Spencer attempted to call her again and again—so much so that she put her ringer on silent.

She got Milo situated with his breakfast and kissed the top of his head, inhaling his baby powder scent. She could do this. Move on. Do what was best for Milo. And given the circumstances, that meant uprooting him once more. She hated the fact that she would have to do it. It made her feel like the worst mother on the planet.

But at least in Phoenix he would have his grandparents there to dote on him. She’d get some relief financially. And if she stayed with them for two years or so, that might be enough so that she could put enough money away to buy a house for the two of them outright.

She tempered the raging grief inside her heart, trying to appear like nothing was wrong around Milo. He deserved better from her. She sat at the table, watching him eat his breakfast while she mainlined coffee. If only she could get an infusion of the stuff to get her through today. She just had to make it through today. Tomorrow would be easier. It was today that was going to suck balls.

At the knock on the front door, Elmo yapped and she closed her eyes for a moment, praying for the courage she needed to confront whoever was there.

Cora felt like she was eighty, her limbs and joints ached as she went to the front door. She scooped up a yapping, excited Elmo to keep him from darting out as she opened it.

The breath she’d been holding escaped in a rush.

Garrett.

She’d known he would come. She’d been waiting for him to appear. He looked as haggard as she felt. There were dark smudges beneath his eyes. The hair sticking out from beneath the brim of his hat was disheveled.

“Go away. I don’t want to see you. Please leave me alone or I will call the police,” she said.

“Cora, please hear me out. And then, if you still want me to leave, I will,” Garrett pleaded. And for a moment she almost said yes.

She shook her head. “There’s nothing to say. I think the show I walked in on last night spoke for itself. I don’t want to see you anymore, Garrett. Please, just go.”

“That’s what I’m trying to say. It’s not what you thought it was. Five minutes is all I need.”

“Garrett, come play with me,” Milo’s little voice said beside her.

“Hey, squirt,” Garrett said.

She tore her gaze away from Garrett and glanced down at her son, knowing she was about to break his heart. Out of everything, this was the hardest because he wouldn’t understand. “Baby, he can’t come in right now. He was leaving.”

“No play?” Milo cocked his head.

“Cora, I can—”

She cut him off. “Garrett, if you cared anything for me, leave now and don’t come back.” She gripped Milo’s hand, Elmo wriggling in her other arm, and shut the door with her foot. Setting Elmo down she flipped the lock and picked Milo up as he started to cry.

“Mama, play,” Milo cried, trying to reach past her.

“Come on, you and I will go play, all right? Let’s go upstairs,” she said, her heart eviscerated by her child’s tears.

Cora carried Milo upstairs to his room, where she rocked him as he cried. His little hiccups and sobs made her resolved. She was never getting involved with a man again. Not ever. It was too risky, not just for her heart, but for Milo’s. She had been through far too much heartache to last her a lifetime, she wouldn’t court more. It was far safer to remain single and out of the dating game. It was the only way she knew how to protect her heart, protect her son’s heart. She was good at being a mom and would make that be enough.

Once she was able to get Milo calmed down, she spent the day with him, doing some arts and crafts. They made a fort out of the sheets in his bedroom and gave Elmo his first bath. That was an interesting experience. By the end, both she and Milo were as drenched as Elmo but laughing like loons.

She clung to that laughter, to her son’s resilience. They would survive this setback. She still hadn’t called her parents just yet. She needed another day or so before she called them. They were paid up through the end of the month here anyway.

She ordered pizza for them for dinner. Milo was over the moon about it. He loved cheese pizza. She’d just finished putting away the leftovers when the front door opened.

“Uncle, uncle!” Milo shouted and raced over to Spencer. “Come see my fort!”

Spencer knelt down and said, “Hey, bud. I need to talk to your mom for a minute. Why don’t you go up and wait for me, okay?”

Milo nodded. “Hurry up,” he said and then headed for the stairs. Cora watched him go, still worried about him going up them by himself.

Once she was certain Milo had made it all the way up, she said, “I don’t want to talk to you.” She turned away. And then all the fury she felt bubbled up inside her so that she could no longer contain it. Swiveling back around, she blasted him. “How could you? You, above all people I trusted. And instead you hurt me like this. I don’t understand.”

“Cora, please listen to what I have to say and then I will leave. You know I love you and Milo. Some of this is Garrett’s story so some will have to come from him. But the woman you saw last night was an ex-girlfriend of his who was attempting to blackmail him. We coordinated a sting operation with the police to get a confession out of her.”

“Yes, but the two of you were with her. I saw you,” she accused.

“Garrett never touched her, Cora. I swear to you on my life. He wouldn’t touch her, refused to because of how much he cares about you. Cora, Garrett is one of the best guys I know and if it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t be standing here now. He saved my life when we were deployed together. If it weren’t for him, they would have shipped the pieces of my body back to the States. And what’s more, he loves you and Milo. Talk to him.”

“I don’t know. So this sting operation, you got her to… to…”

“I owed Garrett, for saving my life back there. It was my turn to help save his, and it’s not like I slept with her, just gave her a good old-fashioned flogging. I promise you, we would have told you if we could have. Garrett would have told you, but we were sworn to secrecy by the police. He couldn’t tell you.”

Doubt entered her mind and she crossed her arms in front of her chest. There was a spark of hope flaring to life inside her and she didn’t want to trust it. “I don’t know, Spencer. It’s been a long time since I’ve had people I trusted hurt me this way. I just don’t know if I believe it.”

He rounded the kitchen island and gripped her arms. “Just promise me you will think about it. And hopefully forgive me for the part I played in keeping it from you. We couldn’t tell you, not with the DA and law enforcement involved.” Spencer hugged her. “I love you, Cora, and will always be here for you. Just think about it, please. I’m going to head up and spend a few minutes with Milo, but then I’ll leave. I’m so sorry that you were hurt by this, that was never the intention.”

“I’ll think about. Why don’t you go on up now? He’s only got about twenty minutes before bedtime.”

Spencer released her and headed up the stairs. She listened to the sound of Milo’s excited chatter and Spencer’s deep laughter as she stood at her kitchen sink and stared out the window with quiet tears rolling down her face.

If what he’d told her was true, then she’d blown things out of proportion. Maybe she should have talked to Garrett this morning. But she was just so hurt. She had to mull it over a bit more before she made any decisions one way or the other.

Cora climbed the stairs when the allotted twenty minutes were up. In Milo’s bedroom, her son and Spencer were camped out under his fort and her heart broke a little more. Milo loved Spencer, adored him. Moving him to Phoenix, away from his Uncle Spencer, was the wrong choice. It might not be easy but she had to stick it out here a little longer, see if she could make this place work. Even if she had to do it without Garrett in her life. She’d not planned on having a man in her life when she’d moved here, anyhow.

“Hey baby, it’s time to get ready for bed. Say goodnight to Spencer,” she said.

Milo tossed his arms around Spencer and he hugged her boy back. “We’ll hang out again soon, bud.”

“Night, Uncle Spencer. Love you.” Milo did his squeeze hug on him.

“Love you too, bud,” Spencer said and then set Milo down before standing. He approached Cora and tugged her in for another hug. As he released her, his black eyes searched her face. “Are we going to be okay?”

“I think so. Just give me some time.” She blinked back the moisture that entered her gaze.

“I’m so sorry, Cora. None of us ever meant for you to be collateral damage.”

She exhaled a shaky breath and replied. “I know. I just need time.”

“I’ll give you as much as you need,” he said, and then left.

Cora put her son to bed and then took a hot bath as she attempted to wrestle with her feelings and the best path to take. By the time she crawled into bed, she was no closer to a solution.

The only thing that she did know was that she loved Garrett. But she had no idea what to do about it.